[EVO 4G General] Impulses:
I'm not necessarily asking for screenshots showcasing any of these scenarios, but I've got a couple of questions regarding AOSP vs Sense... And you seem willing to help illustrate the differences so I thought I'd ask! I'm kinda waiting for CM6 before I try an AOSP ROM. I can help ya out with the Sense screenshots if you want btw, just lemme know what apps/screens you want and I'll start uploading 'em. I can start w/the stuff equivalent to what you've already posted if you want.

1) Does the stock AOSP browser lose whatever windows/tabs were open when the phone is rebooted? I was actually surprised that the Sense browser does this ('cuz my iPod touch's browser preserves them), I was also surprised it's limited to only 4 tabs. The thumbnail previews and Flash Lite are nice but those two things are getting on my nerves. I'll probably try Opera Mini or Dolphin HD soon.

2) Does the AOSP lock screenever display any other info besides the clock and/or pattern? I don't think I've ever seen any screenshots of it doing anything else... I do love the txt message previews on the Sense lock screen, and the music player shortcuts + album art.

It's mildly annoying that you can't disable the Sense lock screen and leave only the pattern lock (so you have to go thru both every time if you want a code lock) but it makes sense, no pun intended, Sense's lock screen enhancements would have no screen to live on if you were able to do that (something people seem to obviate when they complain about this).

3) This is probably what I'm most concerned with... How does AOSP handle contact integration w/Facebook? On Sense you can import all your Facebook contacts (/yuck) or you can just link existing contacts (I guess it searches for similar names, e-mails, or phone numbers) to their FB profile and it fills in extra info on your phone based off their profile. I'm very glad you can do the latter...

Altho it's a bit clumsy if you're very anal about the way you save your contacts. It seems when you fill out extra info manually (birthdays etc) it doesn't always save or sync all of it to your Google account. Names and phone numbers are sync'd but I'm not sure stuff like birthdays is, seems to depend on how the contact originated (phone # saved from the call log, e-mail saved from Gmail account, etc.).

I don't have a very good grasp over that yet, but I do like the way it works in theory... I've been meaning to enter a bunch of old contacts into my GMail account manually to see how they behave once sync'd, that might solve most of the oddities I see when the contacts originate on the phone. So I'm wondering how AOSP handles all of this, does it let you "link" contacts to their FB profile a-la Sense? Or is it more rudimentary?

Sidebar: For some people the best solution might just end up being porting some of the AOSP apps to their Sense-running phones... I might try doing that for certain things (I'm thinking the browser right now), unless I fall in love w/CM6. I do like some the various shortcuts within Sense, like jumping to someone's FB pics right from their contact page (w/o jumping into the browser or anything, it's like they're in a gallery app). I also love the shortcuts to share stuff... From any web page, picture, song, etc. you can hit the share button and you're presented with a menu full of options (mms, Gmail, mail, FB, Bluetooth, etc., it spans the whole screen), I'm assuming that's a Sense thing, no? It actually works quite well, web sites are shared as links, pics are size-converted as necessary, etc.

People don't mention things like this enough when discussing the subject, and I'll be damned if I've ever seen a phone review that goes even remotely near that kinda detail... Some of Anandtech's reviews touch on a few aspects but not much.

On the negative side, I don't care much for the Sense Launcher... I don't think anyone that longs for a truly logical UI would, unless their most used app is the phone dialer, and even then... That bottom bar needs an overhaul. The space for the + button on Sense is wasted after you've got your phone fully customized; and once you get over the flash, many of the market widgets easily put Sense's to shame, 'specially now that they're even doing scrollable widgets on ADW and Launcher Pro. I haven't messed w/the Calendar much yet (I've yet to import most of my entries from my old phone, kinda dreading it).